The Flight into Egypt

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The Flight into Egypt

Artist Jacopo Bassano (Jacopo dal Ponte) (Italian (Venice), ca. 1515-1592)

Place of OriginVenice, Italy

Dateabout 1540-1545

DimensionsPainting: 62 × 80 in. (157.5 × 203.2 cm)
Frame: 76 1/2 × 93 1/4 × 6 1/4 in. (194.3 × 236.9 × 15.9 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1977.41

Not on View

Label TextA master at depicting the human figure, animals, and landscape, Jacopo dal Ponte, called Bassano after his native town, displays his skill in his brightly colored version of the Biblical story of Joseph leading his wife Mary and the infant Jesus out of Bethlehem to flee King Herod. Joseph strides steadfastly along a rocky path—symbolic of the difficult road to salvation—while one of his shepherd companions points the way, persuading another shepherd to stay the course. Bassano helped to place the scene in the realm of everyday life, encouraging greater sympathy for the trials and sufferings of the Biblical figures, by details such as the ordinary faces of the shepherds, the determined features of Joseph, the melancholy young Mary, and the landscape inspired by the environs of the town Bassano del Grappa.Published ReferencesHerrmann, Luke, "A New Bassano Flight into Egypt," Burlington Magazine, CIII, 1961, pp. 465-466, repr.

Ballarin, Alessandro, "Jacopo Bassano e lo studio di Rafaello e dei Salviati," Arte Veneta, XXI, 1967, pp. 81-83, 90, 94, 99, note 10, figs. 90, 91, 92, 94 (whole and details).

"For the Record," Art Gallery, vol. 21, no. 2, December 1977-January 1978, p. 20.

"La chronique des arts," Gazette Des Beaux-Arts, vol. 91, no. 1310, March 1978, repr. p. 42.

"Acquisitions," Art Journal, vol. 37, no. 3, Spring 1978, p. 271.

"1978 Annual Report," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 21, no. 1, 1979, p. 6, repr. p. 8.

Rearick, W.R., "Early Drawings of Jacopo Bassano," Arte Veneta, vol. 32, 1978, p. 166, repr. fig. 6, p. 165.

Rigon, Fernando, Gli animali di Jacopo Bassano, 1983, p. 33, repr. fig. 11 a-d, p. 34-35.

Griswold, William M. and Linda Wolk-Simon, Sixteenth-Century Drawings in New York Collections, New York, 1994, p. 126, 127, no. 2, fig. 112.1, p. 259.

The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Treasures, Toledo, 1995, p. 72 (repr. (col.).

Aikema, Gernard, Jacopo Bassano and His Public, Princeton, 1996, pp. 14, 17-23, 27, 59, 86, fig. 9, p. 18, pl. 1 (col.), pl. 2 (col. det.) after p. 66.

Ballarin, Alessandro, Jacopo Bassano, Padova, 1995-, vol. I, pt. I, pp. 11 (no. 2), 105, 105 (no. 2), 107-108, 113, 115, 116, 117, fig. 21 (det. col.); vol. II, pt. I, figs. 333, 335, 337, 339, 340 (all det.), 343 (entire), 344, 345 (dets.); vol. II, pt. III, fig. 116 (det. col.), 121, (col. entire), 123, 124, 126 (all det. col.).

Wilson, Carolyn C., St. Joseph in Italian Renaissance Society and Art, Philadelphia, 2001, pp. 72, 231, no. 254, 233, no. 269.

Steadman, David W., "A Devotional Interpretation of Jacopo Bassano's Flight into Egypt, in the Norton Simon Museum," unpublished Master's Thesis, Church Divinity School of The Pacific, Berkeley, CA, 2002, p. 5, 13-21.

Wilson, Carolyn C., "St. Joseph as Custos, in the Summa of Isidoro Isolano and in Italian Renaissance Art," in Saint Joseph Studies, Santa Cruz, CA, Guardian of the Redeemer Books, 2002, p. 109-110, no. 73 and 74, fig. 10.

Herman, Amy, "Masterpieces of the European Painting from the Toledo Museum of Art," The Frick Collection Members' Magazine, Fall 2002, p. 4, repr. p. 5 (col.).

Costanzi, Costanza, le Marche disperse: repertorio di opera d'arte dale Marche al mondo, Milan, Silvana, 2005, no. 6, p. 106, repr. and pl. 2, p. 266 (col.). [images reversed]

Rosenberg, Pierre, Only in America: one hundred paintings in American museums unmatched in European collections, Milano, Skira, 2006, p. 64, repr.

Iacono, Margaret, Masterpieces of European painting from the Norton Simon Museum, New York, Frick Collection, 2009, p. 28, 30, 32, 34n10, 35n32, and n34, fig.1.3, p. 29 (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 139, repr. (col.).

Lucco, Mauro, Tiziano e la Nascita del Paesaggio Moderno, Firenze, Giunti, 2012, fig. 17, repr. (col.) p. 28.

Exhibition HistoryFort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, Jacopo Bassano c. 1510-1592, 1993, no. 11, pp. 275-278, repr. (col.) p. 277. [not shown in Bassano del Grappa]

Venice, Palazzo Grassi, Renaissance Venice and the North: Crosscurrents in the Time of Bellini, Durer and Titian, 1999, no. 134, p. 112, 480-481, repr. p. 112 (b&w) and 480-481 (col.).

New York, Frick Collection, Masterpieces of European Painting from the Toledo Museum of Art, 2002-2003, p. [6], repr. (col.) and cover (col.).